If you haven’t already figured it out, we’re currently in the heat of hurricane season. Between June 1 and November 30, the North Atlantic Ocean experiences a heavy wave of thunderstorms, some strong enough to cause major power outages in its path.
Hundreds of thousands have been reporting outages all across America, from those in Indiana entering week two of no electricity to the devastating ruin seen in Hawaii as a result of Hurricane Lala.
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It appears much of the Midwest is experiencing the worst of it, with Northwest Indiana topping the list of those most affected. Many residents have gone as much as nine days without any electricity, and have been told that the earliest they can expect to see restored power is next Tuesday (August 25). Since the powerful storm that occurred on August 11, NIPSCO has reported a staggering 374,500 storm-related outages. Of that number, 68,000 are still without power with an additional 12,000 non-storm related outages. Over in Pennsylvania, days of thunderstorms have led to a tornado warning earlier today and a mandated curfew in some counties. Storms this past Monday in Arkansas left tens of thousands without electricity, including severe damage and a few injuries throughout Pulaski County, Conway County and Little Rock amongst others. Similarly in New Jersey, strong winds have led to a tornado warning as well after over 10,000 were left in the dark beginning Wednesday night. Thousands in both Kentucky and Tennessee have also been struggling, with FOX 17 even reporting a magnitude 2.3 earthquake detected in Western Kentucky.
However, it’s Hawaii that’s arguably experienced the worst damage resulting from the aforementioned Hurricane Lala, and still has a possible cyclone to look out for this coming weekend. More details below, via AP News:
“Hurricane Lala tore roofs off houses, uprooted trees, covered roads in mud and rocks and left many households without electricity. With thousands of homes and businesses still in the dark Thursday, forecasters warned yet another tropical cyclone is likely to approach the islands soon.
‘We’re worried about people going through this again,’ said John Bravender, a warning coordinator meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu. ‘Normally we would say pay attention to the forecast just in case. Now we’re saying take action now.’
He said a tropical depression was just starting to become more organized, and while the system is not expected to take exactly the same track or even dump potentially as much rain as Lala, the ground is already saturated from the recent hurricane.
The depression moving west and northwest could become a tropical storm in the coming hours and pass near or south of Hawaii’s Big Island over the weekend or early next week, the U.S. Central Pacific Hurricane Center said. That system could dump up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain on the Big Island and trigger life-threatening flooding, mudslides and rip currents, it added.”
We are praying for everyone out there going through the motions at this time. Visit the United States Power Outage Map to stay updated on outages and restoration nationwide.
Take a look below at some of the power outage reports we’re seeing on social media across the nation:
1. PRAYERS TO EVERYONE IN THE MIDWEST DEALING WITH THAT POWER OUTAGE!!
8 DAYS WITHOUT POWER, SMDH
via @BattleRapBets